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Fayette publicly launches campaign; Chair pledges $250,000 challenge

April 25, 2011

Fayette publicly launches campaign; Chair pledges $250,000 challenge

Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus recently launched the public phase of For the Future: The Campaign for Penn State Students during the third annual Blues and White Gala scholarship fundraiser at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa. The announcement was made by Francis Achampong, chancellor of Penn State Fayette, and Joseph A. Hardy III, volunteer chair of the campus campaign committee.

Hardy issued a surprise challenge to the alumni and friends of the campus in attendance, stating that he would match campaign contributions and commitments received by June 30, 2011, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, up to a total of $250,000. He said, "I hope that this challenge will give the campaign a spark and spur excitement among our community."

The Penn State University-wide For the Future campaign is directed toward a shared vision of Penn State as the most comprehensive, student-centered research university in America. The University is engaging Penn State’s alumni and friends as partners in achieving six key objectives: ensuring student access and opportunity, enhancing honors education, enriching the student experience, building faculty strength and capacity, fostering discovery and creativity, and sustaining the university’s tradition of quality. The campaign’s top priority is keeping a Penn State degree affordable for students and families by securing scholarship support. The For the Future campaign is the most ambitious effort of its kind in Penn State’s history, with the university aiming to raise $2 billion by 2014.

Achampong announced a Penn State Fayette campaign goal of $8 million. Since its launch in January 2007, the campus has raised nearly $2.3 million. Achampong said, “This campaign is extremely important because of its focus on our students, 90 percent of whom currently qualify for financial aid. Although we have achieved nearly one-third of our goal, we still have a long way to go.”

Hardy added, “Penn State Fayette is a tremendous asset to our community as the only four-year degree-granting institution in the county. We need to create a ‘stampede’ of support for the campus to make certain that we give our students every opportunity to attain a world-class education.”

Other members of the volunteer campaign committee include Vice Chairman Robert Eberly III, Debra Brede, Terry McMillen and Joshua Swimmer.